The present invention relates generally to vehicle seating and in particular to a seat system that provides flexibility in the use of the vehicle between transporting passengers and carrying cargo.
Vehicle manufacturers are constantly striving to increase the usefulness of motor vehicles. Doing so enables consumers to perform a greater variety of functions with their vehicles. In many vehicles, the rear seating area is used more often for carrying cargo than it is for carrying passengers. This is particularly true in multipurpose passenger vehicles (MPV""s) and sport utility vehicles (SUV""s) having three rows of seats. The third row seat may be used for passengers in the few instances when a large number of passengers are being transported at a given time. Much of the time, the area occupied by the third row seat is used for carrying cargo. Thus, it is desirable to provide a seat system for vehicles, particularly the third row seat, which can quickly and easily be changed from carrying passengers to carrying cargo in the vehicle.
One way to achieve flexibility between passengers and cargo is to provide seats that can be removed from the vehicle to enable cargo to be carried. A difficulty with removable seats is that the seats are often heavy and thus difficult to lift and maneuver out of the vehicle. Accordingly, a need exists for a seat that can be conveniently stored within the vehicle and occupy a minimal amount of space to maximize the cargo carrying capability of the vehicle.
The present invention provides a flexible seating system in which a track is mounted to the vehicle side wall and extends fore and aft, i.e. longitudinally, of the vehicle. A cross vehicle track extends laterally across the vehicle from the rear end of the side wall track. The seat system includes a seat back which has a first use position in the vehicle in which the seat back is upright and laterally extending across the vehicle, forming a front facing seating surface. An outboard edge of the seat back is adjacent the vehicle side wall and the side wall track. The seat back is coupled to the side wall track by a first bearing device for sliding motion along the length of the side wall track. The seat back has a second bearing device at an inboard edge of the seat back which is coupled to the cross vehicle track for sliding movement laterally of the vehicle, along the cross vehicle track. The seat back is movable from its first use position in which it faces forward in the vehicle to a stowed position along the vehicle side wall in which the seat back faces laterally, or sideways, in the vehicle.
A seat bottom is provided which has a rear end pivotally attached to the lower end of the seat back. The seat bottom has a generally horizontal use position extending from the seat back in which the seat bottom forms a generally horizontal seating surface. The seat bottom can rotate from the use position to an upright stowed position overlying the seating surface of the seat back. When the seat back is in its stowed position along the vehicle side wall and the seat bottom is rotated to its upright stowed position, the third row seating area of the vehicle is substantially open for carrying cargo. When the seat back is in the stowed position, the seat bottom can be rotated down to its extending use position to form a side facing seat within the vehicle. Thus, the stowed position of the seat back may also be referred to as a side facing use position.
An underseat stanchion is pivotally coupled to the seat bottom near its front end. The stanchion extends downward to the floor of the vehicle and is coupled to a mount on the vehicle floor. When the seat bottom is rotated to its upright stowed position, the stanchion pivots at the upper end of the stanchion to lie flat against the lower surface of the upright seat bottom.
In a typical embodiment, a pair of identical seats will be provided in the vehicle to form the third seating row. Each of the seats is movable to opposite side walls of the vehicle.